Latest News

Georgetowner • February 16, 2012

With Feb. 14 less than 24 hours away, last-minute gifts is on the mind of many. Here are a few places in Georgetown to pick up a gift for that special someone:

Buy a Heart This Valentine’s Day

J. Chocolatier will be offering heart shaped truffles dusted with 24-carat gold. J. Chocolatier is located near Cady’s Alley at 1039 33rd St., N.W.

Make It Last

Looking for something that will leave a lasting impression? Check out the Phoenix, located on 1514 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., which is featuring Lulu Designs. Lulu Designs offers fresh and inspired jewelry infused with the energy of gemstones and metal.

Perhaps a More Traditional Gift?

Ultra Violet is offering a romantic arrangement and box of handcrafted fleurir chocolates for $150. Visit ultravioletflowersdc.com for more information.

Networking Beyond Cupid

For those who like to make it a Valentine’s week, head over to the Georgetown Business Association’s “Heart-to-Heart Networking” event on Wednesday Feb. 15, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., at Cafe Milano (Wine Room). Enjoy hors d’oeuvres, compliments of Cafe Milano and wine, compliments of GBA. Event Free for GBA Members and $25 for Non-Members. Please RSVP by Tuesday Feb. 14: rsvp@GtownBusiness.com.

Georgetowner •

CPAC was in town, in case you didn’t notice, Thursday through Saturday. That’s the Conservative Political Action Conference to you, buddy. If you happened to live around the area of Calvert and Connecticut walking across the Duke Ellington Bridge to the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel on the hill near the Woodley Park Metro Station within the bluest part of the bluest city in the country, you might feel a little like Dorothy dropped on a Red Oz.

The hotel teemed with conservatives, many of them young people avidly waving banners, signs and placards, in every nook, coffeeshop, bar, room and speaking room. This was the 2012 gathering of the GOP which just by the look and sound of it was turning into the GOCP—the Grand Old Conservative Party.

Sponsored by the American Conservative Union, this gathering of the like-minded and right-minded happens yearly, just as a similar conference of young liberal types was held in this neighborhood last year with Bill Clinton a prominent guest.

But this year was different. The Republicans — that is, in this case, the conservatives — were in a fractious primary battle, with all of the candidates left standing making prominent and critical speeches. This was a party in flux, and just about every word spoken meant something because, well, it seemed the Florida primary had not locked things up for Mitt Romney, after all, and because almost immediately thereafter Rick Santorum won three electoral events in Missouri, Minnesota and, most surprising of all, Colorado, considered a safe bet for Romney.

The electoral dynamics provided a passionate backdrop for the conference, where red meat was the only thing on the menu. The other was President Barack Obama, who did the gathered conservatives a huge favor by igniting a needless furor by proposing that — per his health care plan—religious institutions and affiliates must provide insurance coverage for birth control for their employees. This incensed Catholics like the suddenly resurgent Santorum, the fundamentalist Mike Huckabee and the Mormon Romney, not to mention Newt Gingrich, who declared that Obama had declared war on religion in his must-impress speech late Friday afternoon.

Huckabee, in a speech early in the week, proving perhaps he has been hanging out with John McCain way too much, said “tonight, we are all Catholics,” a heretical notion coming from a man who obviously had never had to go to confession in his youth. “It’s not about contraception, it’s about freedom of religion, its about liberty and we won’t stand for it,” he said with great and impressive indignation.

Romney came into the conference still needing to prove that he is real conservative as opposed to a conservative-for-the-duration-of-the-primary-process. The Tea Party, which had its very own room there, along with a host of other groups including the National Rifle Association, still mistrust him like an old Irishman whose daughter has brought home an Italian for dinner.

So, Romney pulled up his sleeves and tried to do just that, in ways that you often don’t even hear conservatives talk.

Speaking in the main ballroom, Feb. 10, just before 1 p.m., Mitt Romney used the word “conservative” more than 20 times in his address, as in being “a severely conservative governor” in liberal Massachusetts. He was trying to convince the receptive audience as much as he was convincing himself. He noted he is the only candidate who has never worked a day in Washington. Romney’s main target aws President Obama whom he said would be “easy to defeat.” After all, Romney said, “Obama is the poster child for the arrogance of government.”

“We should acknowledge President Obama, the conservative movement’s top recruiter. Turns out, he really is a great community organizer. Although I don’t think we were the community he had in mind. . . . I know this president will never get it, but we conservatives aren’t just proud to cling to our guns and to our religion. We are also proud to cling to our constitution.”

“The Obama presidency as the last gasp of liberalism’s great failure and a turning point for a new conservative era,” Romney continued. But it’s not enough to show how they have failed. We must prove we deserve to lead. ” He then listed how his leadership would save America. And, as with the other candidates, he said his first act as president would be to “eliminate Obamacare.”

Which, lest we forget, was once Romney Care. There might come a day that Romney will disavow ever having been a Massachusetts governor, if this race drags on. He might cheerfully, given his bank account, renounce being a Mormon.

While Romney got a very good reception and did win the CPAC straw poll (just barely beating Rick Santorum), a lot of the attendees said they want to believe that he is sincere but are not yet convinced. That surely includes Rick Santorum, who Sunday suggested that there might have been some cheating going on in the straw poll.

And that surely included Gingrich, who, introduced by his dazzling wife Callista (who he said would be taking on a much more active role in the campaign) and a thunderously martial music, promised to eliminate Obamacare—first thing—the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy on his first day in office or thereabouts. “What are our differences? We are either a country of food stamps or paychecks and I know what we prefer,” he said.

He said he would also set up American shop in Jerusalem by putting our embassy there, a sure-fire way to reassure Israel — maybe — and win the hearts and minds of Palestinians everywhere.

He declared his anti-establishment credentials — a rebel, he — and hinted that that Washington establishment he was fighting against was made up of some Republicans as well.

Yet the infighting and the negative campaigning that had characterized the whiplash primary process for the GOP was muted here. Obama always provides a better target when more than one conservative are together in the same room, let alone a hotel full of them.

Not when you’ve got Sarah herself in the house.

All sorts of conservative stalwarts were everywhere — Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Herman “9-9-9” Cain, whose candidacy is still on hold, actor Kirk Cameron, the right-wing blonde acid queens of the media Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter, former UN Ambassador John Bolton, Michele Bachmann, Andrew Breitbart and former Georgetowner columnist Grover Norquist.

Norquist, president of American for Tax Reform, gave a terse, pep-rally speech on specifics and numbers needed for conservatives (aka the GOP?) to take over the Senate and the White House. “The Left is made up of competing parasites,” said the tax-pledge lobbyist as he explained that the agenda was set and all that was needed was the pen (President Romney’s?) to sign the legislation.

But nobody does it better than Palin, whose propensity for red meat rhetoric has no equal now that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) will be retiring.

The woman herself walked onto the main ballroom stage, and the crowd went nuts. Not surprisingly, Sarah Palin can fire them up and shot off her typical verbal missiles: “Not just red America or blue America, but red-white-and-blue America . . . and Obama we are through with you.” “Hope and change? You better hope things change.” “He mucked it up.” “Win the future? W-T-F . . . I know,” she gladly sneered.

A few minutes into Palin’s speech, about eight protestors with the Occupy protestors yelled, “Mic check!” This is a so-called phrase for Occupy hecklers. The group was surrounded in seconds and whisked out of the ballroom. Upon hearing the noise, the audience thundered, “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!,” as if they’d just beaten the Russians in hockey.

Palin continued on her roll. The Washington swamp should be declared a wetlands, she said. Thus, the EPA would slow its growth. “D.C.’s crony capitalism is the root of the problem,” she said and imagined — perhaps rightly — that the Washington cesspool is a tempting hot tub for politicians, serving and retired. “Drain the jacuzzi,” said Palin, as she ended her speech, which happened to be on her birthday, Feb. 11.

It appears that we haven’t heard the last of Mama Grizzly.

Or anybody else.

Outside, a woman with a Santorium poster saw a group of Washington Stage Guild members wave placards and shout, “We are the 99 percent.”

“That’s me, too, “ the woman said. Makes you almost think we’re not that far apart.

Not.
[gallery ids="100493,117799,117819,117789,117826,117781,117834,117772,117843,117809" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • February 13, 2012

Shakespeare’s Sisters: Voices of English and European Women Writers, 1500- 1700

FEBRUARY 3RD, 2012 AT 10:00 AM | FREE | BEMELSON@FOLGER.EDU | TEL: (202) 675- 0342 | EVENT WEBSITE

Virginia Woolf famously evoked “Shakespeare’s sister” in A Room of One’s Own as she tried to imagine the difficulties women writers faced during the early modern period. In fact, Woolf was not aware of how many women actually were writing during that time, because many of their works were never published, and those that were, lay in relative critical neglect. This exhibition explores those women who were, in fact, writing during Shakespeare’s time.

February 3- May 20

Address

201 East Capitol Street SE

Washington, DC

20003

LOVE Show Reception

FEBRUARY 4TH, 2012 AT 06:00 PM

Celebrate that ultimate feeling between two people with the LOVE Show (poems, paintings and music)

Address

Mark Cottman Gallery

1014 S. Charles St

Baltimore, MD 21230

Fashion Takes Flight

FEBRUARY 4TH, 2012 AT 07:00 PM | $85 | EVENT WEBSITE

A ticket to this event includes cocktails, gourmet hors d’oeuvres, access to a fashion show with models and military service men and women sporting the District’s freshest new talent, a silent auction and an invitiation to the exclusive after-party at Lincoln. Come together to support an organization, Luke’s Wings, that aims to assist the families of those who serve.

Address

Washington Nationals Park

1500 South Capitol Street SE

Smithsonian at Little Washington

FEBRUARY 4TH, 2012 AT 08:00 PM | 10$-25$

Pièces de clavecin en concerts by Jean-Philippe Rameau, played by the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Rameau, the great French composer of the Baroque era, composed this music in 1741. This concert gives Theatre audiences the opportunity to hear some of the same concerts which are performed at the Smithsonian’s American History Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

Address

The Theatre

291 Gay Street

Washington

VA 22747

Women On Stage: A Conversation about Susanna Centlivre

FEBRUARY 5TH, 2012 AT 02:00 PM | FREE | RESERVATIONS@NMWA.ORG | TEL: (202) 783- 5000

In conjunction with Folger Theatre’s production of Susanna Centlivre’s The Gaming Table, director Eleanor Holdridge, head of the MFA Directing program at Catholic University of America and Georgianna Ziegler, the Folger’s Head of Reference, discuss the 18th- century playwright’s theatrical legacy.

Address

National Museum of Women in the Arts

1250 New York Avenue NW

Washington DC

Robert Devaney •

The dead, stuffed Potomac Phil predicted six more weeks of winter and nine more months of gridlock in Congress, reports Patrick Ryan of SnarkInfested.com. The rodent-meteorologist event was held at Dupont Circle, Feb. 2. Potomac Phil’s message was made about an hour after the famous Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania saw his own shadow and foresaw six more weeks of winter.

This first-ever D.C. gathering for a groundhog earned a resolution from the D.C. Council and announced the even easier prediction of gridlock in Congress. Local Council member Jack Evans joined event coordinator Aaron DeNu and others, as they leaned over the stuffed groundhog. There were groundhog-shaped cookies for the group, and a rabbi offered a prayer about light.
[gallery ids="100483,117144,117138" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced motorists will encounter single lane conditions and traffic stoppages along segments of Canal Road between Foxhall Road and Arizona Avenue in northwest Washington starting this Friday.

Flagger-controlled alternating lane closures and five-minute traffic stoppages will be in effect between 10:30 am and 2 pm on Friday, February 4 and between 7 am and 7 pm on Saturday, February 5, weather permitting, to allow crews to resurface the roadway.

Motorists are advised to use an alternate route or add extra time for travel to avoid delays.

Temporary signs and traffic control measures will be in place to alert and guide the traveling public through this area.

For additional traffic advisories please visit DDOT’s Traffic Alerts page or visit GODCGO.com for more information on transportation options in the District

Gary Tischler •

During the course of our telephone conversation with Christopher Siebert, who has the flamboyant, star turn of Albin in the touring company of “La Cage Aux Folles,” winding up its Kennedy Center run at the Eisenhower Theater Feb. 12, we told him that he seemed to embody the essence of a Broadway pro.

Specifically, we said, “You’re a Broadway baby.” That means Siebert is never far from a rehearsal, a road trip, an audition, a star turn, a song in his heart in a musical, a night on the stage.

“Yup,” he said. “I believe that’s true.”

Of course, there’s a lot more to Siebert than show biz per se, in the sense that the business, a world which he inhabits as a genuine star, is never far from intersecting with real life, especially with “La Cage Aux Folles,” which first exploded on the Broadway scene in the 1980s. With music by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein, who also starred as Albin, it became an instant classic, spawning revivals and even a hit, non-musical film, “The Bird Cage” with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.

Siebert was a teen in Minnesota when “La Cage” erupted on the scene. Nevertheless, he is keenly aware of its status and history in Broadway lore and feels closely connected to it on several level.

“That show meant a lot then, and it means a lot more now, in a different way,” he said. “Plus, Harvey has been a great friend of mine. So, there’s almost no way of avoiding it anyway.”

Siebert isn’t just alive in the lights of the Great White Way or on the road. He’s something of a pop culture icon with some of his Broadway roles as well as having starred in the television series, “Two of a Kind,” with The Olsen twins, and you don’t get anymore pop culture than that.

But on Broadway he made his real mark, initially playing in shows full of characters already embedded firmly in the buzz-and-cool minds of several generations of youth culture. He was Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast,” Rapunzel’s prince as well as the wolf in “Into the Woods” and Sir Dennis Galahad in “Monty Python’s Spamalot.”

But Siebert really hit the jackpot when he got the role of Lord Farquaad in “Shrek, the Musical,” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award, an Outer Critics Award Circle Award, a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award.

He was playing the stylishly sleazy lawyer Billy Flynn in “Chicago,” when he got word that there was an opportunity to play Georges the other and much, much less flamboyant member of the couple in a road company of the successful revival of “La Cage.” And who was playing Albin? None other than the frog-voiced Fierstein who had originated the role and written the book for “La Cage.”

“Well, Harvey’s my friend, so in a way, playing Georges to his Albin let me see how the pair functioned as a couple, so it really gave me a heads-up on the role. There’s nobody like Harvey. He’s a true original,” Siebert said. “I don’t think anybody can make their voice go that low. So, I don’t try that much.”

Eventually, George Hamilton, the suavest movie star ever outside of Cary Grant, took over the role of Georges, and Siebert became Albin and his oft-altered ego Za Za. The crowds have come, and they have roared.

“Georges is, I think, fantastic, he gives a presence in the role you don’t often find, and he acts it in a subtle way that makes you understand the relationship between the two men,” Siebert said.

Still, it’s different now.

Watching the show, you can see that how much has happened historically. “You’ve got to remember back in those days, it was primarily about the glamour, the glitter, and gay men who had not come out would come see the show with women dates. We’ve come a long way. I think the show now is more about character, the relationship, the love story. It is about a married couple for all intents and purpose, to the point where Albin has to pretend to be a mother, wig and dresses and all.”

The plot’s emotional underpinnings, as well as those holding the costumes together, resonate differently in the age of the battle over gay marriage.

Siebert himself married his long-time partner Kevin Burrows, an actor and a chef, last Thanksgiving.

We asked him if Burrows cooks at home. “Never,” Siebert quipped. “Except at Thanksgiving. That’s his high holidays.”

Marit Fosso •

Do you need a perfect beginning to your St. Valentine’s Day celebration? Treat your better half to a romantic breakfast in bed! Pancakes are, of course, a safe bet for any special breakfast, and a portion of chocolate pear pancakes are sure to satisfy any chocolate lover.

Chocolate Pear Pancakes

Cook & Prep time: 35mins

Makes 6 x 20cm/8-inch pancakes (Serves 2)

Ingredients

For the batter

50g/2oz Plain Flour

½ – 1 tablespoon Pure Cocoa Powder

1 Egg

150ml/5fl.oz. Milk

For the pears

2 Pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm/ ½ – inch pieces

About 4 tbsp Sugar

1 x 2.5cm/1-inch Cinnamon Stick

Cold water

For the Chocolate Sauce

50g/2oz good-quality dark Chocolate, broken into small pieces

25g/1oz Butter

3 tbsp Honey

Vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Place the flour and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl or large jug, mix well then add the egg and milk and mix until well blended and smooth using a balloon whisk or handheld electric. Set it aside whilst you prepare the pears.

2. Place the chopped pears in a small saucepan together with the cinnamon and sugar and enough cold water to come halfway up the fruit. Place over a medium heat and bring to simmering point, mixing well and continue to cook for about 5 minutes or until soft.

3. Meanwhile, put the chocolate, butter and honey in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water and leave until the chocolate starts to melt. Mix well until you have a smooth sauce. Remove the pan from the heat, cover the bowl with a lid or clingfilm but leave it in the pan and set aside.

4. Once the pears are tender, turn the heat off, drain any excess liquid, remove the cinnamon stick then crush the pears with a fork. Cover with a lid and set aside whilst you cook the pancakes.

5. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a small frying pan until very hot, swirling it around to coat the base of the pan. Pour off most of the oil then add one sixth of the batter to the hot pan, tilting the pan so the batter covers the base evenly. Cook for about 1 minute until just set then loosen the edges using a palette knife or fish slice, turn the pancake over and cook for a further 30 seconds or so until lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining batter, keeping the cooked pancakes warm under the grill or in a low oven.

To Serve fold each pancake into quarters, place three on a plate, place the pear mixture over the pancakes then drizzle with the chocolate sauce.

Maybe your soulmate is not into a major sugar kick early in the morning. Instead, treat her or him to a cup of delicious coffee with cute cookies on the side.

“I love you” Cookies

0.5 lb soft butter

0.5 lb powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

4 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 lb. flour

0.1 lb vanilla pudding powder

Preheat the oven to 356F. Run the butter and sugar in a mixer, mix until it is fluffy. Add both eggs, and the sour cream, mix this for two minutes. Stir together baking powder, baking soda, salt, flour and vanilla pudding powder in another bowl. Add the vanilla extract to the butter mix. Mix everything until the dough is ready. Leave the dough in the fridge for at least an hour. Roll out the dough, use extra flour if it’s too sticky. Use heartshaped “Message in a cookie” cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma.

Bake for about ten minutes in the oven. Let the cookies cool before you decorate them. (Recipe from www.passion4baking.com)

Georgetowner •

Appalachian Spring Gift Wrap for Charity

February 10th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | info@appalachianspring.com | Tel: 202-337-5780 | Event Website

Appalachian Spring in Georgetown will be offering gift wrap of your Appalachian Spring Valentine’s Day purchases with a donation to Bread for the City from February 10-14. During store hours.

Bread for the City offers low-income residents of Washington, DC: food and clothing, primary medical care, legal advice and representation, and comprehensive social services.

Address

Appalachian Spring

1415 Wisconsin Ave

Washington, DC 20007

Spy at Night

February 10th, 2012 at 06:00 PM | 14.95-27.95 | vsmanagers@spymuseum.org | Tel: 202.393.7798 | Event Website

Next month, D.C.’s most mysterious museum debuts its revamped Spy at Night experience, providing area residents exclusive, after-hours access to its permanent collection and an evening full of intrigue, deception and cocktails. The first in the re-launched series is a James Bond-themed occasion on Friday, February 10, with future events occurring the second Friday of every month.

Address

International Spy Museum

800 F Street, NW

Washington, D.C.

Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station

Film Screening: HAPPY

February 11th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | $6.00

The film HAPPY is the latest from Academy Award-nominated director, Roko Belic, and is launching discussion about the state of our nation’s ‘happiness’ level in comparison with other countries, including Japan, Bhutan and Denmark. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the Arizona International Film Festival, the Best Feature Film Award at the Costa Rica International Film Festival, and numerous other similar awards.

Address

AMC Loews Georgetown 14

3111 K Street N.W.

Washington, DC 20007

One City Summit

February 11th, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Event Website

Join Mayor Gray at the One City Summit, “Let Your Voice Be Heard” to help the District become a more livable, vibrant and inclusive city for everyone.

Address

Washington Convention Center

801 Mount Vernon Place, NW

Washington, DC 20001

Woo at the Zoo

February 14th, 2012 at 04:30 PM | $11-$22 | Event Website

Woo at the Zoo, a fun-filled event for both singles, and couples, where they can learn about animal mating, dating and reproductive habits in a humorous way.

Address

Smithsonian National Zoo

Alan Caruba •

Back in the 1980s, I have worked professionally with elements of the pest control industry providing public relations services The process of educating the public is necessary because new generations must be informed of the threats pests pose to health and property.

Back when it was still known as the National Pest Control Association, I even received a beautiful certificate of appreciation that hangs in my office. At some point several years ago, it and state organizations changed their name to “Pest Management” presumably to divest themselves of the image of actually killing the creatures that annually spread disease and do millions in property damage.

In past years, environmental organizations devoted a lot of time and money to convince the public that the real problem was the pest controllers, not the pests. If they all changed their profession next Monday, the entire nation would be totally over-run with roaches, termites, rats and mice in a month. The work is not glamorous, but it is utterly essential to society.

A case in point is bed bugs that have emerged in a few short years into a full-fledged pest problem from coast to coast. Thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency, the lack of pesticides registered to exterminate them has facilitated this new plague. There is, I believe, only one.

I have watched as the EPA has, since its founding, insanely strip pest control professionals and consumers of access to pesticides that formerly had protected their parents and grandparents, as well as their homes and businesses.

When you take away the pesticides, all you have left are the pests.

The modern pest control industry had its beginnings in the Middle Ages with the emergence of “rat catchers,” men who had developed a variety of poisons to rid homes and other properties of the ubiquitous rodent. Even the kings and queens of England had a royal rat catcher.

They were such a part of life in those times that the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin has been passed down to us. It was, of course, the combination of rats and fleas that spread the Black Plague in the Middle Ages, killing a third or more of the population of Europe.

So why, one must ask, have the burghers of Washington, D.C., responsible for passing the laws, passed the truly insane one titled the “Wildlife Protection Act” that requires pest control operators not only to capture rats in a fashion that does not harm them in any way but to transport them 25 miles away to be set free?

As Don Boys noted in a recent Canada Free Press article, “Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s attorney general, said D.C.’s new rat law is ‘crazier than fiction’ because it requires vermin not be killed but rather captured, preferably in ‘families,’ and transferred to a ‘wildlife rehabilitator’ ” — presumably living in Virginia.

Here are a few facts about rats:

— Rats have a life span of approximately nine months.

— Rats are ready to breed within three months. Their gestation period is 22 days, and they have an average litter of eight. An average female rat will provide 20 offspring.

— A single pair of rats has the potential, mathematically, of producing 359 million descendents in three year’s time.

— The average overall length of a rat is 16 inches, with a body measuring 9 inches and a tail of 7 inches. The average weight of a rat is 1-1/4 pounds. Their color can range from reddish brown to black.

— A rat’s sense of smell is excellent, as is its sense of taste. They are particularly suspicious of food. This results often in “bait shyness.” Rats will leave a poisoned bait untouched for almost a week. Other members of the pack will avoid food not eaten by other members and often warn other rats away by sprinkling it with their urine or feces.

— Rats can gain access to virtually any structure. They can climb 15 feet up a rough, surfaced vertical wall. They can jump vertically one foot from a flat surface and they can easily traverse telephone wires and ropes. They are, in addition, good swimmers.

Virginia and other states near Washington, D.C., do not want the District’s rats. They have plenty of their own. They also have a complete host of other rodents and wildlife that require the ministrations of pest control professionals.

There are a host of very good reasons why every American city and town has extensive laws regarding the control of insect and rodent pests, as well as wildlife that includes raccoons, opossum, squirrels, turkeys, coyotes, deer and bears.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that rats must be killed to protect people and property, but not the members of the District Council who were more intent on protecting the rats than their constituents.

© Alan Caruba, 2012

A past contributor to these pages, Alan Caruba also posts daily commentaries at “Warning Signs” .